Interesting Articles

Every child deserves the chance to learn and thrive in an environment that is enriched by the latest technology. Two years ago President Obama announced ConnectED, a signature initiative focused on transforming teaching and learning through digital connectivity and content. Today, building on the progress made to date, at the Anacostia Library in Washington, D.C., the President will announce two new efforts to strengthen learning opportunities by improving access to digital content and to public libraries: new eBooks commitments and the ConnectED Library Challenge.

"I don’t do video games. I never have. I don’t own any pocket-size devices that would allow such activity. If I’m bored waiting in line, I pull out the latest Washington Post Outlook section — which I always carry wadded up in my back-right pants pocket — and catch up on books and contrarian thought."

In this post I'd like to take a moment to go beyond appreciating these outstanding people for choosing the noblest profession of all. Sure, teachers need to hear that we appreciate them for teaching kids, but they need to hear even more that we appreciate all the things they do that are above and beyond mteaching and learning. So with that I would like to share with you:

We look at the issues of digital literacy through different lenses, and we are hoping that our new book helps to bridge the conversation between technology departments and classroom teachers when it comes to literacy in the digital age.

Makerspace describe a makerspace as community centres with tools. Makerspaces combine manufacturing equipment, community, and education for the purposes of enabling community members to design, prototype and create manufactured works that wouldn’t be possible to create with the resources available to individuals working alone. These spaces can take the form of loosely-organized individuals sharing space and tools, for-profit companies, non-profit corporations, organizations affiliated with or hosted within schools, universities or libraries, and more. All are united in the purpose of providing access to equipment, community, and education, and all are unique in exactly how they are arranged to fit the purposes of the community they serve.

As librarians, one of our key missions is to equip students with the skills necessary to locate and synthesize the information. We want to teach our students to access high-quality resources and use databases to conduct research.

Cool Tools and New Websites

A couple of years ago Richard Byrne, from FreeTech4Teachers published a list of 21 online map creation tools. Since then some of those tools have gone offline and new tools have replaced them. Here's his updated list of online map creation tools for students and teachers.

LiquidText improves the reading experience by allowing users to better understand, synthesize, visualize and collaborate over digital text. Turn a static document into a highly flexible and malleable one, to make interacting with content intuitive and effortless.

Explore Money From Around the World! See what countries chose to put on their currency and learn basic facts about their economy.

LearningApps.org is a Web 2.0 application, to support learning and teaching processes with small interactive modules. Those modules can be used directly in learning materials, but also for self studying. The aim is to collect reusable building blocks and make them available to everyone. Blocks (called Apps) include no specific framework or a specific learning scenario. The blocks are therefore not suitable as complete lessons or tasks, instead they must be embedded in an appropriate teaching scenario.

State of the Commons covers the impact and success of free and open content worldwide, and it contains the most revealing account we’ve ever published, including new data on what’s shared with a CC license. Check it out!

Pics4Learning is a safe, free image library for education. Teachers and students can use the copyright-friendly photos & images for classrooms, multimedia projects, websites, videos, portfolios, or any projects in an educational setting. - See more at: http://www.pics4learning.com/#sthash.QHmp4qvj.dpuf

With the help of the world’s best wildlife filmmakers and photographers, conservationists and scientists, we are creating an awe-inspiring record of life on Earth. Freely accessible to everyone and preserved for the benefit of future generations, ARKive is a truly invaluable resource for conservation, education and public awareness.

New Google Tools and Tricks

One of the things that can be a little confusing about Google Classroom is that the teacher side does not match the student side. It will be easier for teachers to understand how students interact with Google Classroom if the teachers participate in a Google Classroom class as a student. Using Google Classroom for professional development has been very popular. This not only is an efficient way to deliver PD and resources but is a great way to expose teachers to the student perspective of Google Classroom.

The Google Docs collection provides a streamlined, collaborative solution to writing papers, organizing presentations and putting together spreadsheets and reports. But besides the basic features, there are lots of little tricks and hacks you can use to make your Google Docs experience even more productive. Here are 100 great tips for using the documents, presentations and spreadsheets in Google Docs.